Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu on Thursday joined other African leaders to attend the inauguration of General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, as president of Chad
Deby officially won 61 percent of the May 6 vote that international NGOs said was neither credible nor free and which his main rival called a “masquerade”.
Taking the oath of office, Deby said he swore “before the Chadian people… to fulfil the high functions that the nation has entrusted in us”.
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and seven African heads of state as well as Constitutional Council members and hundreds of guests watched as the 40-year-old, dressed in his customary white boubou, was inaugurated as president at the Palace of Arts and Culture in the capital N’Djamena.
Deby was proclaimed transitional president in April 2021 by a junta of 15 generals after his father, who was former president Idriss Deby Itno, was shot dead by rebels after 30 years in power.
The swearing-in marks the end of three years of military rule in a country crucial to the fight against jihadism across Africa’s restive Sahel region.
The eight who were present were all from African nations. Other countries were represented by ministers or ambassadors.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who travelled to N’Djamena in 2021 to pay homage to the late Marshal Deby in front of his son and successor, sent his minister for foreign trade and Francophonie, Franck Riester.
Chad, one of the world’s poorest nations, is France’s last military foothold in the Sahel region, with 1,000 soldiers, and Macron was one of few leaders to publicly congratulate Deby on his election.
Tinubu Attends Déby’s Inauguration As Chad’s President
